White House to Make Illinois Prison ‘Beyond Supermax’ for Gitmo Detainees

Officials in the Obama administration said they anticipate that if all goes as planned, the federal government will purchase the Thomson Correctional Center in Northwest Illinois by late winter, and begin preparations to house terror suspects currently held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. The administration then plans to get the prison to a security level “beyond supermax,” sources told The Washington Post.

Although Illinois politicians are split on the issue, support for the prison is reportedly strong in Thomson, where the unemployment rate is more than ten percent. The White House has estimated that some 3,000 jobs could be created by housing Gitmo detainees there.

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a candidate for President Obama’s former Senate seat, is leading the opposition to locating Gitmo detainees at Thomson. He’s called it “an unnecessary risk, both to our legal system and our security.” He also warned Obama in a letter, signed by six other GOP representatives, that if terror suspects are held in Illinois, “our state and the Chicago metropolitan area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization.”